Egg box filler and carton



N. A. PETTER Dec. 4, 1934.

EGG BOX FILLER AND CARTON Inventor Dec. 4, l9 4. A. PETTER ,306

EGG BOX FILLER AND CARTON Filed Sept. 2, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 3 Md. JQaZZ'L B] wa Attorney:

. =30 the appended claims.

atented Dec, 1'93.4

[Ten STATES PATENT OFFICE EGG BOX FILLER AND CARTON Neel A. Petter, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Standard Paper Box Corporation, Los Angelcs, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application September 2, 1931, Serial No. 560,699

5 Claims.

This invention relates to fillers for egg boxes or the like. As usually constructed, these fillers are formed of light cardboard or similar material and made of separate pieces that are made to 5 interlock with each other so as to form pockets -l0 in machinery to produce the fillers.

The general object of this invention is to produce a filler having features 01' construction which will enable it to be supplied to the packers in the form of a substantially flat carton.

A further object is to provide a construction for the filler which will enable it to be formed from a single piece of flattened tubular form, but which can be set up and placed in the egg box readily by hand, so as. to provide eflicient pockets for holding the eggs.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The inventionconsists in the novel parts and combinations of parts to be described herein- 26 after, all of which contribute to produce an ef ficient egg box filler and carton.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in In the drawings: a Figure 1 is a plan of a carton embodying my invention and capable of being set up to form an egg-box filler embodying my invention. V Figure 2 is an end view of the carton shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross section through an egg-box and illustrating one of my fillers mounted in the box. This view particularly illustrates 40 the manner in which integral flaps on the wall of the carton operate to form division walls, or

partition walls, between the egg pockets.

Figure 4 is a plan of one end of the filler in its set-up state ready to be inserted in an eggbox.

- the filler.. The middle portion of this view is broken away.

Figure 6 is a cross section taken on the line 6-61of Figure 5, looking in the direction of the arrow, and is a typical section upon an enlarged scale.

Figure 7 is a vertical section similar to Figure 6, but taken at the line 77 of Figure 5 and illustrating the section at this end of the box.

Figure 8 is a plan of the flat tubularcarton from which the filler can be readily formed.

Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 indicates a carton of my invention particularly adapted to form a filler for an egg-box. This carton is of flat, tubular form so as to enable it to be readily stacked and shipped in large quan- 5 tities without occupying much space. This tubular carton, as indicated in Figure 2, comprises two opposite walls 2 and 3 and the fiat tube has .a folded edge 4 on one side and a similar folded edge 5 at the other side. These edges 4 and 5 run longitudinally with the completed filler, which is illustrated in Figure 3, and which will be described in full hereinafter.

The flat tube is formed of a single piece of material, such as cardboard, folded as indicated and having an overlapped joint 6 at which point the overlapped edges may be secured together by glue or any other fastening means. In other words, the carton has a continuous wall with folded edges located opposite to each other. 0

In adapting the carton to form a filler such as illustrated in Figure3, I form a series of aligning slits '7 in the superposed walls 2 and 3 of the flat tube. These slits 7 have two extensions, 7a and 7b forming an obtuse angle with each other, and at the outer ends of the slits 7 I form curved slits 8 which converge toward each other as indicated.

In addition to this, in line with the vertex 9 of the obtuse angle I produce additional inclined slits 10 which form a considerable angle with the portion 7a of the slit 7. In other words, the slits 'la and 10 form an angle opening toward the folded edge 4 of the carton and terminating near the same. Substantially tangent to the curved slits 8, I provide additional slits 11 and 12, the former of which lie near the edge 4 and parallel with the same, terminating at one end near the ends of the slits 10. In this way at a plurality of points along the carton I provide bridges 13 of material, which bridges are cut into from their side edges.

The material between each pair of slits 8 and the corresponding slit '7 forms a flap 14 that is adapted to be folded upwardly on its corresponding axis 13 (see Figure 3), and the material in the obtuse angle between each slit 10 and its corresponding slit lb forms a flap 15 which is adapted to be folded downwardly (see Figure 3). In other words, these flaps 14 and 15 are capable of being bent into a substantially vertical plane so as to form a partition wall or division wall 16 for dividing the completed filler into a series of egg pockets 17, (see Fig. 4).

In order to further facilitate the forming of the filler, I prefer to provide score lines 18 in the walls 2 and 3 on which the material of the wall can be folded to produce a dihedral angle 19 in the completed filler. In forming the filler from this carton, the flat tube is pressed together at the folded edges 4 and 5 so that the edge 5 produces a dihedral angle 5a resting against the under side of the upper edge 4. The edges 4 and I 5 are preferably scored by producing a series of slits in the same as indicated at 20 in Figure 3.

After bringing the edges 4 and 5 together, as described, the filler is then placed inside of an egg-box 21 having two vertical longitudinal walls 22. When the filler is put in place, these walls 22 will receive the outward thrust exerted at the vertical side walls 23 of the filler. In other words, the egg-box will hold the filler in the form illustrated in Figure 3. When in this condition, the lower portion of the wall 2 will form an inclined bottom wall 24 for the box filler, and the wall 3 will form an inclined bottom wall 25 for the filler.

These walls 24 and 25 form an angle with each other which produces the dihedral angle 5a referred to above. The flaps 15 extend down into the filler and engage the upper sides of these inclined walls 24 and 25. The flaps -14 extend upwardly and form supporting edges 26 which form rests for the cover 27 of the box. In this way, these flaps 14 support the cover and tend to prevent pressure being exerted on the butt ends of the eggs received in the pockets 17. The position of the eggs in the pockets is indicated by the dotted outline 28.

At one end of the carton a flap 29 is formed which projects beyond theend of the carton, and this flap holds downwardly like the flaps 15 already described. The end of this flap 29 may have a substantially rectangular tip 30 which may be folded on a score line 31 so as to lie against one of the inclined bottom walls 24 or 25 of the completed filler.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention,

the filler is constructed so that its division walls interlock with the bottom of the filler. This is illustrated in Fig. 6 which is a typical section of a filler of this type. In this view, 32 and 33 represent the inclined bottom walls of the set-up filler, and these walls are provided witha plurality of slits 34 which receive downwardly extending tongues 35 that project from the lower flaps of the division walls 36. In other respects, the filler is substantially similar to the filler illustrated in Figure 2.

This effect is readily accomplished by changing the form of the knives in the dies that cut the tubular blank to form the carton. This is illustrated in Figure 8 in which the flaps 36 and tongues 35 are produced by forming incisions 37 and 38 in the blank, which are connected by cross incisions 39. The knives of the dies include a knife to form an inclined incision 38a and a parallel short inclined incision 40 located opposite to a similar short incision 41 inclining in an outward direction. In this way, axes of rotation such as the axis 42 (see Figure 8) are formed on which the material adjacent the axes 42 can be swung into a vertical position to form the division walls of the filler.

In line with the axes 42 are provided a plurality of slots 34 which receive the tongues 35 asindicated in Figure 6. The tongues project down sufficiently to enable their lower edges 44 .t0 align,

enabling the division Walls 36 to receive part of the thrust if a force is exerted on the cover of the box carrying the filler. The lower flaps of the division walls 36, are integral with upper flaps 46, which, in the carton, are located on the opposite side of the axis 42 from the flap 36. I prefer to form the blank so that the bottom walls 32 and 33 are straight, and transverse incisions 381) form the top edge 46a for the partition walls.

The right-hand end wall 47 of the filler, is the same as all of the other divisional walls 36, but the end wall 49 at the opposite end 'of the box merely includes the downwardly projecting flaps 50. This is of no consequence because these end flap walls 50 would be reinforced by the end wall of the box that would enclose the filler. slots 34 operate of course, to hold the partition walls in an upright or vertical position.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and I do not wish to be limited in the practice of the invention, nor in the claims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

.What I claim is:

1. A carton to form a filler for an egg-box, consisting of a flattened tube having a longitudinal folded edge, and having incisions passing through its wall adjacent the folded edge, said incisions forming integral flaps capable of being swung into a substantially vertical position to form partition walls in the filler dividing the box into egg pockets, said carton further having a second folded edge, and having longitudinal score lines enabling the second named folded edge to be moved into engagement with the first-named folded edge when the carton is set up to form the filler.

2. A carton for forming an egg-box filler, consisting of a flattened tube with two longitudinallydisposed folded edges, the walls of the flattened tube adjacent one of said folded edges having juxtaposed aligned slits capable of being formed by a knife passing in succession through said walls to produce flaps capable of being swung into a substantially vertical plane, enabling the same to operate as partition walls for egg pockets when the carton is set up to produce the filler, the opposite walls of the tube further having aligning longitudinal score lines enabling the carton to be set up with said folded edges adjacent to each other, and in an elevated position, with the material of the tube forming an acute angle at said score lines.

3. An egg-box filler of tubular form having an upper wall with openings therethrough to receive the eggs, said openings having flaps integral with said upper wall disposed in a substantially vertical plane to operate as partition walls formthe longitudinal center line of the filler, and engaging the under side of the said upper wall to support the same.

4. An egg-box filler of tubular form having an upper wall with openings therethrough to receive the eggs, said openings having flaps integral with said upper wall disposed in a substantially vertical plane to operate as partition walls forming egg pockets, said filler having two vertical side walls integral with said upper wall, and having a bottom wall comprising'two diverg- Qing walls forming an angle with each other extending along the longitudinal center line of the filler, in combination with a substantially rectangular box having longitudinal side walls lying against the side walls of the filler, and retaining the filler with its walls in. a fixed relation to each other, with the apex of the angle between the diverging bottom walls lying substantially against the under face of the upper wall of the flller.

5. A carton to form a filler for an egg-box, consisting of a flattened tube having two juxtaposed walls with a longitudinal folded edge connecting the same, and having exactly aligning incisions passing through the juxtaposed walls NOEL A. PE'I'IER. 

